The first group of trainees begin their vaccination management skills studies with the opening of the Merck Vaccine Network - Africa (MVN-A) training centre at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya. Over the next 10 days, 33 trainees will learn how to store and handle vaccines safely, provide vaccination services, and conduct immunization surveillance and disease monitoring activities, a release from Merck said.

The MVN-A training centre is designed to contribute to improving the immunization infrastructure in Africa. The first group of trainees includes experienced health care professionals from the region who are attending to gain new insights into the management and delivery of vaccinations and vaccines. The trainees will complete the course on July 17. MVN-A is supported by a grant from The Merck Company Foundation.

"The first MVN-A group of graduates is an important milestone in helping to increase access to important vaccines in African countries and other developing nations," said Adel Mahmoud, president, Merck Vaccines. "Although there is no single solution to the health challenges facing the continent, the training centre is one model that, in combination with other local and global initiatives, will help more children get life-saving vaccines in the regions where there remains a shortage of basic health care," he stated.

The MVN-A Training Centre at Moi University is supported by the Kenya Ministry of Health, and officials at the Centre are working closely with health care facilities in the Eldoret region.

MVN-A is the latest component of the long-standing partnership between the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Moi University Faculty of Health Sciences, which are working together to develop healthcare leaders in Kenya.

"The immunization programme managers who go through the training will sharpen their skills in ways that should enhance Kenya's ability to vaccinate more children and increase immunization coverage across our country and the region," said Fabian Esamai, professor of paediatrics, Moi University Faculty of Health Sciences, Kenya, and the co-investigator of the programme.

The training curriculum is based on educational materials developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners of the Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunizations (GAVI), and addresses the needs identified in the Kenyan assessment.

"It's already been demonstrated in Kenya that improved medical education leads to more and better-trained healthcare workers, which in turn results in better access to proper health care for more people," said Edward A Liechty, professor of paediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and co- investigator of the Kenya programme.

GAVI has acknowledged that the lack of infrastructure, including a lack of trained health care workers, for delivering life saving-vaccines is a major reason for low vaccination rates in the African continent. Through MVN-A, a network of vaccination training centres will be established as a way of creating a sustainable source of skilled health care workers across Africa.

In addition to the centre in Kenya, an additional MVN-A training centre established in Mali is scheduled to begin training its first class later this year. The efforts in Mali build on the ongoing research collaboration between the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Centre National d'Appui à la Lutte contre la Maladie in Bamako, Mali.

Africa bears the highest per capita burden of vaccine-preventable diseases and has the highest concentration of GAVI-eligible nations in the world. Fifty per cent of children in sub-Saharan Africa do not receive basic vaccinations during their first year of life, according to the WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank in a study released in November 2002. The report points out that vaccination rates in sub-Saharan Africa fell dramatically in the 1990's while many areas of the world saw vaccination rates increase substantially.